Share

Chris and I were art students. Jimmy [Destri, Blondie keyboardist] was interested in illustration. Gary [Valentine, Blondie bassist and guitarist] was very interested in comic-book art, although he didn’t create art. I don’t know. The scene that happened before CBGB was Max’s, when the Factory was in full swing. That kind of entourage of people was really what anybody who dreamt of coming to New York or being in the art world or being in the music scene was thinking about. And I think a lot of us were thinking about beatniks—

Share

A fight with punk royalty... Jean-Jacques Burnel (bass): In 1976, we played with the Ramones. In those days, [Clash bassist] Paul Simonon had a nervous tic: he used to spit on the ground. He did this just as we came off stage at Dingwalls in London, so I thumped him and it all kicked off. We were thrown out by the bouncers and it continued in the courtyard. On one side were the Pistols, the Clash, the Ramones and a load of their journalist friends. On the other side was us, a few of our fans and me, nose to nose with Paul. Dave [Greenfield, Stranglers keyboards] had John Lydon up against the ice-cream van.

Jet Black (drums): It polarised opinion against us, but we've always been at our best with our backs against the wall.

Share

"There has been a hell of a lot over forty-plus years. There have been highlights, and there have been some real downlights and some real bummers. I can think of the bummers like getting arrested or riots or being dismissed for what we have been doing or Hugh (Cornwell) leaving. But there have been some real highlights. In recent years some of the shows we have been playing are beyond my expectation for an old bastard like me. But unlike The Rolling Stones, we are still creating new stuff. (Laughs)." Jean Jacques Burnel of The StranglersBorn on 21th February 1952

Share

The Clash, Royal College of Art, Nov. 5, 1976 "On the bill it was the Clash, Subway Sect and the Jam, and it was called the Night of Treason because it was on the fifth of November, Guy Fawkes night. "The audience was very much a mix of the original punk fans, about 100 to 150 people, then there was a large group who had just come to see what the fuss was all about, and then there was a large group of the Art College students. For the Clash, that was the biggest stage they had been on at that point and they just grabbed it, they just stamped their authority all over the place that night. I've heard people say, 'I saw the Clash that night and they changed my life.' "Somewhere in the middle of the set this beer glass came flying to the stage and smashed across it. Joe Strummer wanted none of that so he just stopped it and said, 'Who threw that?' Some guy put up his hand, so Strummer singled him out and said, 'If you got something to say, come up here and say it.' So this guy got up on stage and they started having this conversation, it was very odd. Weirdly, these university students, who were supposed to be the smart ones, were actually the dumb ones in this whole movement, they were the ones throwing beer glasses and acting like idiots." The Clash at the Royal College of Art, 1976. (John Ingham)Text: Jesse Kinos-Goodin

Share

Generation X: Tony James, who formed Sigue Sigue Sputnik in 1982 (the name came from a news story about a Moscow street gang called Burn Burn Satellite) Billy Idol, Bob Andrews and Mark Laff – by Ray Stevenson

Share

#happybirthdaybryangregory"Bryan Gregory (Gregory Beckerleg, February 20, 1951 – January 10, 2001) was an American rock musician, and founding member of and guitarist for The Cramps. Gregory took the name Bryan after Brian Jones from The Rolling Stones, of whom he was a big fan." Photo ~ Image Source

Share

I started hearing about the Ramones in summer of '76 when they played the Roxy. And I think they played the Whiskey - they made the rounds. I didn't go see them, but I started hearing about them. And my bass player Patrick Woodward, who played this killer upright bass and an electric one too - he brought me a review to rehearsal. It was a review of them at - I think it was the Roxy. I can't remember what paper it was, but it was a negative review. And the writer obviously did not like punk rock, did not like the Ramones, and was probably enamored with Journey or somebody like that. He was running down this list of what was wrong with them -- you know, the songs were too fast, they had simple lyrics, there were no extended guitar solos -- and it sounded like everything was too rock'n'roll for this guy. And so I said, "This doesn't sound so bad," and Patrick said, "Yeah, I'm inspired - I wanna go see 'em now!" It sounded good to me; it sounded like something we'd like! And at that point I was playing about three nights a week, but I was working a day job. I always did electronics on the side, and I was working at a place that worked on pro audio gear for studios that were putting in new sound systems and stuff. And we put in a sound system at a ballroom in Norwalk, California, which is a suburb that nobody's ever heard of on the south side of L.A. County. And they had a ballroom where people did ballroom dancing during the week, and on the weekends they were starting to have rock and roll concerts. And we put in a sound system there - a big one for the time. So I was out there everyday for a week or two, and the people said, "Hey, if you guys ever want to come see any of our shows, just call and we'll put you on the guest list." And they gave me a list and there was Tom Petty and the Ramones. And I said, "Oh, I'd like to see these two." So I saw the Ramones at that show, and it just kinda changed everything. It was sort of what I had been looking for but couldn't put my finger on. So I watched the Ramones and I watched the audience too, and I was obviously one of the few people there that hadn't been following them... ~ Billy Zoom interview in 2004 with Mark Pri